The experiment, which took place back in fall 2007, involved 1,200 papers written (or not) by 537 social-science and humanities undergraduates at a "selective post-secondary institution." Students in half of the courses involved in the study were required to participate in the plagiarism awareness tutorial via their Blackboard accounts, which included 18 pages of information about plagiarism followed by a quiz on the topic. It also provided advice about writing, including avoiding procrastination and taking careful notes. None of the students were made aware that they were participating in a study.

Among the control group, 3.3 percent of papers met the researchers' criteria for plagiarism (using Turnitin), while the frequency of plagiarism for the Web tutorial group was about 1.3 percent. The Web tutorials, according to the researchers, were especially effective with one high-risk group in particular: those who had lower SAT scores coming into their institution. Using the data gathered in this study, the researchers predicted a "plagiarism rate of 17.7 percent among students at the national mean of SAT scores (i.e., 1017) and 31.4 percent among students at the 25th percentile of SAT scores (i.e., 850)."

Further, following the experiment, researchers conducted surveys with the students. "A follow-up survey of participating students suggests that the intervention reduced plagiarism by increasing student knowledge rather than by increasing the perceived probabilities of detection and punishment," according to the researchers. "These results are consistent with a model of student behavior in which the decision to plagiarize reflects both a poor understanding of academic integrity and the perception that the probabilities of detection and severe punishment are low."

David Nagel is editorial director of 1105 Media's Education Technology Group and editor-in-chief of THE Journal and STEAM Universe. A 25-year publishing veteran, Nagel has led or contributed to dozens of technology, art and business publications.